*Warning – contains full spoilers for The Boys season 5 finale.*

With The Boys finale having recently been released, bringing to an end seven years and five seasons of storytelling, fans are still diving into just what happened throughout the episode – and showrunner Eric Kripke has been here to help.

Kripke has been speaking with a host of publications about the finale, and along with revealing why Queen Maeve didn’t make a return and what the future could hold for the Gen V characters, he has revealed how long some of those big moments have been in the works.

The finale saw dramatic deaths for both Homelander and Butcher, with the former being de-powered by Kimiko before Butcher killed him with a crowbar, and the latter being killed by Hughie to stop him releasing the Supe-killing virus.

Speaking with Variety, Kripke said that Hughie and Butcher’s ending had been known since “the very start of the series”, and it is a “reasonably faithful” representation of what happens in the comic.

Meanwhile, he said that “we 100% knew that Butcher was going to kill Homelander with a crowbar. I’m not sure we totally knew where or when or how, but we just knew that was going to happen”.

As for the happier endings for some of the heroes, Kripke said: “It’s this notion that I’ve been saying from the beginning, which is I see the show as hopeful but it doesn’t come without pain, sacrifice and failure. Nothing will ever be perfect.

“There are still superheroes running around, Annie’s been throwing up and fighting with her mom, but when families pull together there’s hope and a chance to be happy. When you quit waiting for someone to come in to save you, and you get to work saving the people you love, you can have a happy ending.

“That’s what we’re showing with Hughie and Annie and MM, who spent all season thinking he was never going to see his family again. Now he’s remarried his wife, he has his daughter, he has a new son and is going to raise Ryan, which is what Butcher asked him to do last season.

“Even Kimiko, as sad as it is that Frenchie’s not there, she’s reaching some kind of a peace. Nothing’s perfect and everything’s hard, that’s life. But if you keep getting up every time you’re knocked down, you can find happiness.”

But just how did it all play out, what happened to the different (former) members of The Seven and what happened to The Boys?

Read on for everything you need to know about the ending of The Boys season 5.

The Boys ending explained: What happened to Sister Sage?

At the start of The Boys finale, the team buried Frenchie, bemoaning the fact that his sacrifice appeared to be in vain – Kimiko was showing no signs of having developed Soldier Boy’s power-destroying abilities.

However, realising that she needed to be angry to activate it, Butcher had Sage badmouth Frenchie and his legacy. Kimiko let off a blast, instantly removing Sage’s powers.

No longer the smartest person in the world, Sage bowed out, deciding to visit a Harry Potter experience rather than accompany The Boys on their final mission.

What happened to Oh Father?

Homelander was preparing to give his big Easter Sunday message from the Oval Office. Once he declared himself God, the psychics would be on hand to kill anyone who was a disbeliever.

In one final mission to stop him, the Boys ventured through underground tunnels into the White House. While the team there were prepared for them, Ashley helped them to get past and through into the building.

Once there, they found themselves facing off against The Deep and Oh Father. While Starlight flew the Deep out of the building to take him on herself, Hughie and Mother’s Milk (MM) distracted Oh Father so Butcher and Kimiko could get through to Homelander.

As Hughie battled Oh Father, MM came up from behind him and put an extra-strength ball-gag, bought by Ashley, in his mouth. As Oh Father let out one of his powerful screams at the last second, his head exploded from the sound being trapped in by the gag.

What happened to The Deep?

Starlight flew The Deep out to the shore to have it out with him. She tried to convince him to turn against Homelander, who had just told him how much he truly hated him. However, The Deep wouldn’t budge.

Eventually, Starlight blasted him into the sea where, true to their word in the penultimate episode, as vengeance for what he did with the pipeline, The Deep was attacked by an octopus, sharks and all manner of sea life.

In the end, he was killed in the most apt way possible, and his body sank to the bottom of the ocean, with just a pool of blood left on the surface.

“We knew for sure that we were very slowly, methodically, building towards Deep’s death of the ocean animals finally turning against him because he has always been so s***y to them,” Kripke told Comicbook.com .

“From him eating sushi to the oil pipeline, it’s all been building towards that moment.”

What happened to Homelander?

Before the Boys even got there, already Homelander was spiralling, admitting on camera his feelings about regular people and his plans to kill the non-believers.

Once Butcher and Kimiko got to him they battled it out, with the camera still rolling live to the public, showing them all of the action. Ryan arrived to help, and a vision of Frenchie helped Kimiko to realise that it was her heart and her love that could activate her powers, not just rage.

She blasted all three of Homelander, Butcher and Ryan, removing their powers. Homelander attempted to fly, but found himself impotent and useless. Butcher easily overpowered him, beating him mercilessly, “for Frenchie”.

As Homelander debased himself, telling Butcher he would do anything, pleading helplessly with him for mercy, Butcher plowed a crowbar through his head, ripping off the top of it and letting his brain spill out. This, he said, was “for Becca”.

Finally, the nightmare was over, and Homelander was dead.

Not everyone was happy with this outcome, with Elon Musk bashing it on X (formerly Twitter) and calling the move “pathetic”.

Kripke took his attempt at an insult as a compliment, declaring “I’ll never get a better review ever”, but this just seemed to spur Musk on more.

“Kripke probably got flack from his wife’s bf for Homelander being used in based memes and had to write that ending as a grovelling apology,” he wrote.

“I’m not upset, just remarking that the ending sounds fake and gay,” he added in another.

Kripke was so proud he took a screenshot and posted it to Instagram – noting he had “notes on the joke structure”.

He later explained the fate to ComicBook.com, saying: “As many characters say to him throughout this season… ‘You take your powers away and you’re nothing’.

“We wanted to demonstrate that and what a weak, simpering coward he is once you have removed his powers, as are, frankly, many strong men.”

What happened to Ashley and Stan Edgar?

After Homelander’s death, Ashley, who had become President after Calhoun, tried to maintain her own power.

She argued that she wouldn’t step down and had stopped Homelander through her own initiative, so had done nothing wrong.

But Congress disagreed, and so she was removed from office and arrested.

At the very least, she is alive, something actor Colby Minifie was surprised by, telling ScreenRant: “I started the show as a recurring character on season one, and now she’s lasted this long?!

“There’s a line in episode seven, where Ashley says, ‘I haven’t died. Do you know what a miracle that is?’ And I really feel that personally as well.”

Meanwhile, Stan Edgar was re-appointed as interim CEO of Vought – it seemed there was no stopping Supes’ abuse of power and the commercialisation of them, even with Homelander gone.

What happened to Butcher?

After killing Homelander, Butcher proposed to Ryan that they live together and start again. Ryan declined the offer, saying he didn’t chose Butcher over Homelander – they were both bad people, he just wanted a fresh start.

Already reeling from this rejection, yet realising truth in Ryan’s words, Butcher was then dealt another blow, finding that his faithful dog Terror had died, seemingly of natural causes.

Quietly, he slipped out while the rest of The Boys were watching TV, and took the virus with him. He headed straight for Vought tower, but Hughie realised what was going on and followed him.

When Hughie arrived, he found that Butcher had put the virus into the sprinkler system, and attached a trigger to it. He planned to wait until the day had begun, when Supes would be roaming all around the building. He intended that the virus would spread from there and eventually infect the whole planet, getting rid of all Supes once and for all.

Hughie couldn’t allow that to happen, and after a tussle he ended up shooting Butcher in the stomach, as Butcher imagined him as his brother, Leonard.

As Butcher lay dying in Hughie’s arms, he praised him for never letting himself be changed – he remained true to himself, good and decent, throughout. He understood Hughie’s decision, and was at peace with his death.

What happened to Hughie, Starlight, MM, Kimiko and Ryan?

After having a funeral for Butcher, the Boys went their separate ways. MM remarried Monique, with Ryan by his side. Kimiko got herself a dog and went to live in France, tearfully thinking of Frenchie.

Meanwhile, Hughie and Starlight set up an AV store called Campbell Audio Visual. Bob Singer, now re-installed as the President, called Hughie to ask him to head up the reestablished Bureau of Supe Affairs — Hughie turned it down.

It was revealed that Starlight was pregnant, and they planned to name the baby Robin, after Hughie’s girlfriend who was killed by A-Train in the very first episode. Meanwhile, Starlight was back to doing actual superhero work, flying off to help someone in need as Hughie looked up at the sky, finally happy and content.

The episode ended with a montage of behind the scenes images celebrating the crew, saying farewell to the series which has thrilled us, made us laugh and grossed us out in equal measure over five seasons.

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